Entebbe mayoral candidate Habib Byamukama Kashillingi has dismissed the recently concluded NRM primaries as a sham, citing widespread fraud, voter intimidation, and bribery.
He now vows to petition the party’s Secretariat and run as an independent if no redress is offered.
Kashillingi, who came third in the race behind incumbent Fabrice Rulinda and Michael Mutebi Kabwama, claims the process was marred by glaring irregularities that denied the people of Entebbe a free and fair election.
“This wasn’t an election, it was a selection. People were planted to vote against names of others. That alone is an irregularity,” Kashillingi said during a press briefing.
He cited shocking incidents, including underage voting, voter importation, ballot manipulation, and direct bribery of his polling agents.
“A group of two drones kept rotating Entebbe with young girls and boys voting multiple times. In Kakeka, someone claiming to be Najingu Aisha came to vote. She said she was 16. The real Najingu is 48 and bedridden. How do you explain that?” he asked.
Kashillingi also raised questions about voter numbers in certain areas, saying they defied logic.
“In Nakasamba, how does one candidate get 400 votes when videos show fewer than 200 people even turned up? Simple math exposes the fraud,” he said.
He further alleged that in Kiwafu East, votes meant for one candidate were transferred to another, leading to chaos and the abrupt removal of a polling agent without signed Declaration of Results (DR) forms.
“My agents were bought off at nearly every polling station. Is that the election the President prepared us to do?” Kashillingi asked.
While the NRM Electoral Commission declared Fabrice Rulinda the winner with 4,758 votes, opposition to his victory continues to mount amid allegations of daytime bribery and rigging.
Kashillingi appealed directly to President Museveni for clarification on claims that some candidates were backed by “orders from above.”
“Your Excellency, do you authorise people to come and vote for particular individuals or is someone using your name to deceive voters? If we continue this way, Entebbe will lose again to the opposition,” he warned.
President Museveni, in a separate statement yesterday, confirmed that 333 individuals have been arrested and 48 charged in connection with electoral malpractice across the NRM primaries, following his crackdown directive.
Kashillingi, along with other disgruntled candidates, says they are preparing a formal petition.
